Hugh David Loxdale is an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. He was professor of ecology at the Institute of Ecology, University of Jena from 2009 to 2010, president of the Royal Entomological Society from 2004 to 2006, and honorary visiting professor at the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University. Loxdale works on the population biology, ecology, and genetics of insects, especially aphids and their wasp parasitoids.

Education and early career

Hugh Loxdale was educated at Corner Hall Secondary Modern Boys’ School, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England from 1962 to 1967, and Apsley Grammar School, Hemel Hempstead (now Longdean School) from 1967 to 1969. On leaving school, he joined the Entomology Department at Rothamsted Experimental Station (now Rothamsted Research), in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, working in the Insect Survey, then run by L.R. (Roy) Taylor (1924–2007), studying the demography of moths and aphids as part of the national light trap and suction trap surveys, respectively.

Scientific contributions

Loxdale's research demonstrated that as the tansy aphid, parasitized by its specialist wasp parasitoid ''Lysiphlebus hirticornis'', underwent increased genetic variation, so did that of its parasitoid. This suggested a fine-grained co-evolutionary tracking to be in operation. Such a scenario is supportive of the Red Queen hypothesis, whereby a host organism (here an aphid) is attempting to evolve away from its antagonist (here a parasitoid), which is meanwhile co-evolving in order to retain the ability to attack it, i.e. keep pace with it in an ecological-evolutionary sense. Loxdale also determined the insecticide resistance status of the serious agricultural pest the peach-potato aphid, ''Myzus persicae'' (Sulzer). From this work, the spatial and temporal dynamics of this important (and now highly cross-resistant) pest aphid could be followed, thereby leading to more rational and effective control measures in the field. Loxdale has written reviews on absence of strict genetic uniformity in populations of clonal organisms such as aphids. This lack of uniformity is due to the rapid rate of mutation resulting from various mechanisms (e.g. point mutations due to errors of replication, inversion polymorphisms related to transposon effects, etc.) amplified by the huge reproductive potential of the animals concerned, e.g., not only do aphids show ‘telescoping of generations’ such that an adult asexual female has her children and grandchildren within her, but also the ability to produce a large number of asexual copies (10-100 offspring) in a short time (10-14 days). Hence, a single aphid can, in theory produce enough offspring to cover the entire planet to a depth of many kilometres in a single growing season! This of course has serious potential consequences for the agricultural, horticultural and forestry industries worldwide. Loxdale has also co-authored overviews on several key areas of biological thought and research. These include the migration and dispersal of insects in relation to their genotype and habitat; ''intra''-clonal genetic variation; rapid evolution in insect populations due to various genetic-ecological mechanisms; population proteomics; and on the improbability of generalism in nature, with special reference to insects The consensus of these articles is that the act of filling a new ecological niche is the fundamental act of specialization for any new species or sub-specific population. Whilst some species may be polyphagous to varying degrees, nevertheless diet breadth tends to involve preference for certain prey items in predatory as well as herbaceous species. Generalism, if it exists, is highly dependent upon an animal's morphology-anatomy, genetics, physiology-biochemistry, and chemistry, especially chemical ecology. This in turn governs the behaviour of the animal concerned and restrains it in terms of its habitat choice and what it can eat. In this light, the age old ‘arms race’ of insect herbivores with plants has led to the plants evolving an armoury of secondary chemical defenses which cause, more often than not, specialisms in terms of host and indeed habitat on the part of the herbivore/s involved. Ultimately, even apparently highly polyphagous species such as the aphid ''M. persicae'', said to attack plants in 40 families,Blackman RL, Eastop VF. (2000) ''Aphids on the World’s Crops: An Identification and Information Guide'', Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester. may be because of its highly specialised biochemistry-enzymology.

Poetry

Loxdale has published ten volumes of poetry: *''Fascinating Felines'' (2002) *''The Eternal Quest: A celebration of nature in poetry'' (2003) *''Blue Skies in Tuscany'' (2003) *''Bird Words: Poetic images of wild birds'' (2003) *''The Jena Poems'' (2010) *''Love and the Sea'' (2010) *''Nevisian Days: Poetry from a Caribbean Isle'' (2011) *''Bird of Paradise: Selected Poems, 1968-2011'' (2011) *''Zoooo…Living Poems for Children'' (2012) *''Red Tulips, Selected Poems, 1999-2016'' (2017)

Honours and awards

Loxdale was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society in 2016. In 2017 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list for services to entomology.

References

External links

Cardiff University School of Biosciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loxdale, Hugh Members of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Presidents of the Royal Entomological Society British entomologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)